The Invisible Girl
by McFlyMIHighAddict
Summary: In her 9 years at St Hopes, Katalina has become the girl that nobody sees. Never having had a proper friend, she spends her days watching and listening, learning about her classmates. Inside her is a vast lake of knowledge that nobody knows exists. But what happens when someone starts seeing the girl that is never seen? Will she finally have a friend?
1. Prologue

New story that came into my head. Please review!  
**I don't own MI High.**

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_I'm the girl that nobody sees. I'm the girl who could be invisible, or not there, for all the difference it makes to everybody else. I'm the girl who could harm anyone, but no one realises it. People just don't see me. A classroom that I am in is an empty classroom. And this means that best friends have private conversations around me, without realising that I can hear and am storing every detail in my mental library._

_One of my favourite things to do is watch people. Not anyone in particular, just people. This means that I know a lot about my classmates that I sometimes think they don't even know themselves. And I don't forget. Never. I can remember so much that I sometimes wish my brain had a 'delete' button. Some things you don't want to remember._

_I'm not sad that I don't have any friends. It gives me time. When you don't have friends, you can watch everyone, learn things about them that they think only they and their best friend know. When no one regards you, you have time to watch the world. Everything interests me. And I truly mean everything. I could be content for hours locked in a room that was completely bare, just looking at the walls. I could be counting the number of bricks. I could be thinking about a member of my class. I could be working things out - like why someone had locked me in a completely bare room. _

_I'm never, ever bored. That does not mean I always pay attention to what is going on around me. But when I have decided that my thoughts are more interesting, my gaze slips inwards, and I enter my own world. It's like there are two sections to my brain. One that is permanently noticing things - that Davina wore that top a year ago, and has obviously kept it in case it came back in fashion, that Avril is writing a long letter of complaint to Oscar about him never noticing her that she will destroy and never send just like she does with all the others, that Scoop has a massive crush on Rose and is trying to catch her attention - and one that drifts in between paying attention to the world and thinking my own thoughts._

_I don't mind being the girl nobody sees. But that doesn't mean that I never feel lonely. Often, I feel loneliest in the middle of all my classmates, when they are swirling and chattering to each other and nobody sees me. Sometimes I think about what my life would have been like if I'd joined a different school, been born somewhere else, or simply started to speak to people more often. But my thoughts don't follow this train often. I think about other people far more than I think about myself._

_Because I have no one to talk to, I keep my feelings closed up inside me. A massive lake in my soul, filled with emotions. On the outside, I never betray feelings. But nobody can stopper up their emotions completely - everyone needs an outlet. Most people don't even realize they have an outlet, but a listening ear is all it takes. As I don't have that, I dance. When I dance I let all my emotions out, and it's the only time I'm not invisible. I dance four times a week, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and I look forwards to my lessons like nothing else. But nobody except my father knows I dance. And I want it to stay that way._

_A habit that I have been in for a few years is writing down all my thoughts in notebooks. A sort of diary, I suppose, only I write in it a lot more than most teenage girls write in a diary. I can finish a notebook in a month, easily. It gives me a calm feeling, recording all my thoughts, makes everything seem more manageable. If I'm angry about something, I write it down, and it doesn't seem nearly such as big a problem as it did when all my rage was only inside me. When something has upset me, I write it down, and then I can think about it more rationally. Obviously, if someone got hold of these notebooks, they would have a direct path into my head. All my thoughts, emotions, musings...everything would be recorded for them to read. So I keep them very safe. All the finished ones are locked in a box in my bedroom, and I have the only key to that box. It's not a flimsy, easy to pick lock, either. And then that box is hidden, so that it is impossible to stumble across it by mistake. And the book I am writing in at the time never leaves my possession. Once I've finished a book, I lock it up, and don't look at it again. I imagine that one day in the distant future, I'll open the box and read through all my past notebooks, thinking how silly my teenager self was. _

_This is my most beautiful notebook yet. I love it already. Vicky gave it to me - it was one of her birthday presents, but she didn't want it. It feels lovely to write in. Vicky is my older sister - Victoria Isabella Symonedies. She's a year older than me, and as different from me as she could possibly be. She's tall and willowy, with beautiful black hair that flows down her back in waves - when Mrs King doesn't tell her to tie it up. I'm small and incredibly average looking, with hair that can't seem to choose between blonde and brown that I plait in two plaits every day._

_My name is Katalina May Symonedies._


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 2 of my new story. Hope you like it - please review!  
**I don't own MI High.**

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It was a Tuesday. A dull, boring, grey, hopeless-feeling Tuesday. Oscar was sitting at the back of Mr Flatley's Year 11 classroom waiting for registration to start. Looking up, he saw Rose reading a large hard backed book, and Carrie chatting animatedly with her friends. He considered going to talk to one of his friends, but decided against it - far too much effort far too early on far to dismal a day. Turning his attention back to his magazine, Oscar slumped further down in his chair. A tiny sigh distracted him momentarily, and he turned to see his desk partner for registration - Katie or something - sitting down next to him. Funny girl, Oscar thought distractedly. Never spoke. She was like a spirit - she could be there or not there and nobody would really notice the difference. Oscar returned to his magazine, wondering vaguely and without any real interest when Mr Flatley would finally turn up.

Eventually the headmaster walked in, 10 minutes late as usual. While it was 'expected' that the entry of a teacher meant instant silence, in reality the noise levels barely dented. Ignoring this lack of respect, Mr Flatley proceeded to start the register. "Davina Berry?" he asked in a voice that he was desperately trying to make energetic and animated. "Donovan Butler?" he proceeded down the list, marking each person off the list as the affirmative replies cut through the general babble of the had reached "Rose Gupta?" when suddenly every child fell silent and stood up. It was evident that Mr Flatley knew who had come in before he turned around. "Hello Mrs King," he said in a resigned voice. The fact that his deputy sparked far more fear in everyone than he did was a fact that he had learned to live with long ago. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, thank you, Mr Flatley," she replied briskly. "I need a word with," she consulted the folder in her arm, "Katalina, if that is alright with you."

"Katalina?" Mr Flatley scanned the register, as though he couldn't remember a girl called Katalina being in his class. "Ah, yes. Katalina?" he directed at the class.

"Yes, sir," came the voice from next to Oscar. The girl he was sitting next to had shut the notebook she had been scribbling in all registration and straightened in her chair.

"If you will step outside with Mrs King for a minute." Katalina, Oscar thought, looked mortified, although why she should be so embarrassed he didn't know. She hurried over to the door and disappeared through it, Mrs King following behind her. As soon as the door swung shut behind the deputy headmistress the chatter erupted again. The register plodded on, Mr Flatley trying to regain some order, but it was only when the door opened again that the hush fell. Thankfully, it wasn't Mrs King, but just Katalina returning, and the noise level climbed again until within seconds it was higher than it had been before. Finally the register finished, having taken 10 minutes instead of the minute it took when Mrs King took it, and the class noisily began banging their way to the art room, where they had their first lesson. Oscar slouched up to the front of the room, meeting up with Rose by the door.

Art was, as usual, boring and useless. Nobody in the line of work he was heading for would care whether or not he could draw a still life, Oscar thought as he pretended he was considering the right pencil to use for the apple in the fruit bowl they were meant to be drawing. If he had to describe the fruit bowl in 16 different languages (he had been doing some revising lately), he would get top marks, but he was not heading for the forgery side of business. The bell for break seemed to take an age to come. When it finally did arrive, the sharp ringing brought him quickly out of his stupor and he pulled the sheet of paper off the dilapidated easel and shoved it into his folder. Nearly running out of the art room as he unceremoniously stuffed his folder into his bag, Oscar made straight for the form room, wanting nothing more than for this day to be over already. He didn't even notice the smaller girl walking in front of him until he literally ran into her, causing her to drop the notebook she was carrying. She apologized immediately, although he couldn't see where her fault had been - he had been the one charging down the corridor like a steam train. Katalina bent over to pick up the small red notebook, and as she straightened up she said 'sorry' one last time before disappearing into the crowds of students milling the corridors. The encounter already forgotten, Oscar made his way back to the form room without further incident.

That lunch time, Oscar sat with Carrie and Rose as he normally did. They talked about everything under the sun - from lessons to teachers to work to missions (although only in very quiet voices when nobody else was around), and to make the day even better, the sun came out. The black mood that had been consuming Oscar lifted along with the clouds, and for the rest of the afternoon he was, as Carrie eloquently put it, 'his usual annoying self'. When he got home after school he quickly completed the small amount of homework that they had been given, because unfortunately even being a spy that stopped international disasters on an almost weekly basis did not get you off doing schoolwork. After, he spent a while revising his Spanish - after the incident with the Brain Power Hand Cream, he had taken it on himself to learn Spanish, as it was a big language to have missed in his lingual education when he knew much less well known languages such as Macedonian - as he had his A level in a matter of weeks. Spying, as his father frequently reminded him, was full time - even when there were no mission, it was the duty of a spy to keep up his training and skills. Finally falling into bed at around 10, Oscar fell straight asleep.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 (Katalina's Notebook)  
**I don't own MI High.**

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_I don't think that Vicky understands how much I prefer not being seen to being seen. In fact, I know she doesn't. Vicky was born to be in the spotlight - born to catch people's attention - born to be a star. Vicky loves all the attention being on her, and that always makes it easier to slip people's minds. After all, she has such an exuberant character, you cannot fail to pay attention to her. It would be incredibly hard for someone to push her away from the spotlight, even if they had a personality to equal hers, so I have never tried. To be perfectly honest I've never wanted to try. I sometimes think of it like this - behind every successful person, behind every person who has ever been on the front of a magazine or on television, there is a team of people that get no appreciation, but are nevertheless essential to that person's success. Not that I have to do that much for Vicky, but then it's just an analogy._

_The reason I was called out of registration today was because Vicky had asked Mrs King to tell me that she was practising for the England Youth Gymnastics Tournament after school with Carrie in the gym and I would have to wait for her. She could really have waited for break time to tell me, but that's not Vicky's nature - if she needs to do something or tell someone something, it happens there and then. So now I'm sitting in the school gymnasium writing, whilst Vicky and Carrie are practising for the vault phase in the competition. If I told Vicky afterwards that I could name all the movements she is doing she would probably die of shock. Carrie's really nice - she's in my class and very popular because of her gymnastic skills. She's one of very few people that know the school star, Victoria Isabella, has a sister that barely anybody ever notices. When we're at school she treats me like everyone else does - as in she doesn't notice me - but when she comes home with Vicky she usually smiles at me and is friendly enough. _

_In art today, I amused myself by doing what I call 'reading people's minds' - using my knowledge of them to figure out what they were thinking, approximately. For example, I could tell that Oscar was thinking how useless the whole subject was and how he would never use it after school. Scoop was trying to impress Rose, who doesn't like art much, by commenting loudly on how the whole subject was boring and a waste of time. Davina was desperately trying to keep her hands clean, to avoid chipping her new nail varnish - pale pink with sparkles. I don't not like art, but it's hardly my favourite subject either. Once I'd finished my picture of the fruit bowl - incredibly cliché for a still life class - I just took out my notebook and wrote for a while._

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**(Late that night, after Katalina gets home from her ballet class)**

_Vicky's got a new leotard. Dad bought it for her. It's really pretty - dark blue velvety material, with the shoulders and neck in a black netting and a silver star on the back, with 'Victoria' also in silver sparkles in curly writing. It was a present as a 'well done' for working so hard for the competition, which is starting tomorrow. She's going to be missing school on Wednesday and Thursday, and traveling up to Birmingham, where the competition is being held. That means that I get to have the house to myself, as Dad has to take her. Carrie, who is one of Vicky's best friends even though she is a year younger than her, is going to go up with Dad and Vicky too, and is staying the night tonight because they have to leave so early tomorrow. Personally, I'm not sure it is very wise to allow them a sleepover the night before such a big competition, as they'll probably stay up ages chatting, but then again they'll probably sleep the whole way to Birmingham._

_When Vicky, Carrie and I got home from school, I ran up to my room, let my hair out of its plaits and quickly scraped it back into a neat bun on the back of my head, snapping a black velvet scrunchie around it. I then wriggled out of my school uniform and into my pale pink tights and black leotard, before pulling on my grey-and-pink track suit and my trainers over the top. Grabbing my ballet bag - a dark blue shoulder bag with sequins in one corner - I slung it over my shoulder and raced back downstairs. It is always essential on Tuesdays that I'm really quick to get ready, because otherwise I'll be late for class and Gill - my teacher - hates lateness. As I hurtled down the stairs, I saw Vicky and Carrie still standing in the hall. Vicky didn't even turn around__, but Carrie looked at me, evidently puzzled at my sudden change of attire and hairstyle. "Where you off to, Kitty?" Vicky looked around at this, and seeing my new outfit, said_

_"Oh, Kat's off to dance." I inwardly - and probably outwardly too - blushed, as this was the first person to learn this out of Dad and Vicky. I wish she realised that I don't want people to know. Hopefully Carrie catches that too. _

_"I didn't know you danced, Kitty!" Carrie announced in her usual exuberant way. Honestly, the way she talks to me when she's at our house, you'd really think that she was a year older than me too, instead of in my year. It's like I'm her little sister - which I don't mind, as she's lovely and one of Vicky's best friends - but it is a little strange when we are the same age. In response, I nodded, embarrassed, before darting out of the front door and into the car where Dad was waiting._

_Ballet went really well today. Gill said that my turnout was improving rapidly and that I was ready to start doing the whole class en pointe. Afterwards, when I got home, I had dinner before coming up to my bedroom. My bedroom is quite small, with white walls and a very pale blue carpet. All my furniture is either white, this shade of blue or silver, and whenever I am in my room I feel like I'm floating on clouds. Vicky's room is much bigger - she wanted what used to be the study, and Dad let her convert it into her bedroom. He's an interior designer, and he said that it was important that children could express themselves in their rooms. He let us decorate them however we wanted, leading to my cloudy room. Vicky's is around three times bigger. Her color scheme is much more striking, and mainly consists of blues, pinks and greens. Personally, I think that it all clashes a bit, and I prefer my room infinitely. Vicky has a massive wardrobe that she sections off into different compartments - school uniform in one, leotards in another, track suits in yet another... it goes on. She has a gym mat in the middle of her floor so that she can practise whenever she wants, just like I have a small barre along one wall. I think that it was a great idea to let us decorate our rooms. We've lived in this house for 10 years now, and I always think that our bedrooms are like mini museums all about the person that lives there. Relics of the past are scattered over the shelves, memories are preserved in the ornaments and toys. _

_Carrie and Vicky are currently in Vicky's room practising. You can always tell because when you are in the kitchen, like I am now, you can hear a 'thump, thump, thump' on the ceiling. Sometimes, when they are practising moves like flips or have to jump a lot, it sounds like the ceiling is about to fall in. I hope Vicky and Carrie do well in Birmingham - if they do then they will be likely be asked to start training for the next Olympics! This is the biggest competition of the year, and most people can only dream of taking part - it's invitation only. _

_I'll be in the house all alone tomorrow and the next day. I always like it when this happens. School's not so far away that walking is a problem, and I'll be free as a bird. I think I'll go to the new pizza restaurant for dinner, Dad said that he'd give me some money. Whenever I hear that someone else in my class is home alone they are inviting friends over, but I much prefer being on my own. Loud sleepovers when you don't get to sleep until three in the morning are not my idea of fun. I like the quiet and silence in the house. _


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
**I don't own MI High.**

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And one, two, three, _now!_ Carrie's friend Vicky jumped onto the springboard and launched herself onto the vault. Watching critically, Carrie tried to spot mistakes, slight slips in technique, and sign of human frailty that could give the judges any chance to mark Vicky down in the next day's competition. It was the big one - England Youth Gymnastics Tournament - the one she and Vicky had been working for now for over a year. As Vicky landed, Carrie shouted out "Good, watch you keep your legs straight on the jump,". Vicky nodded and ran back to do it again. She was a year older than Carrie, but they had been training together ever since they met and were best friends. Carrie knew that Vicky had a little sister in her class - Katalina or Kitty, as Carrie could never let anyone go without a nickname - but they were so different that she sometimes wondered if they were related at all. Vicky was quite tall, which was unusual for a gymnast, had lovely wavy black hair which she normally wore loose, although now of course it was pulled back into a bun, and was in possession of such a captivating personality that it was impossible not to listen when she was talking, or watch when she was doing something. Vicky seemed to be good at everything she tried her hand at, especially gymnastics - Carrie often thought when they were training together that Vicky would probably have made a good MI High agent if she also learned martial arts. Kitty on the other hand... was different. Carrie glanced over at the small girl sitting on one of the benches lining the sports hall. Kitty was scribbling away in a red leather notebook - she was always scribbling away in some notebook or other. She must have thousands of full notebooks in her bedroom, Carrie though absent-mindedly. Kitty was plain and nondescript, a quiet girl who never drew attention to herself if she could help it. She was smaller than Carrie, with skin so pale it had an almost translucent quality to it and blondy-brown hair that she always wore in two tight plaits that stuck out very slightly from her head. Kitty never volunteered an answer in class, always sat at the back and was normally either scribbling away or just sitting quietly, her eyes staring at the class. Everyone ignored Kitty - Carrie included, although it always felt slightly strange that there was a person in her class whose voice she heard only once a day - and many, she was sure, would have trouble remembering who Katalina was if the name was thrown at them. The only reason Carrie wasn't like this was because of Vicky. Whenever Carrie walked home with Vicky, or went over to her house, Kitty would be there, slipping like a ghost from room to room, going unnoticed even in her own house.

Suddenly Carrie was snapped out of her own world by the sound of the springboard twanging as Vicky jumped on it. Switching her focus immediately to her friend, Carrie continued looking for mistakes. "That was loads better!" she shouted when Vicky landed. "My turn?"

"Guess so," came the reply, and Carrie walked over to the runway. Bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet several times, she cast everything else out of her mind and focused on the vault ahead of her. Breathing deeply, she threw herself, body and soul, into training.

About an hour later, when the two girls had finished training, they both pulled on track suits over their leotards and headed for the door. "Katalina!" Vicky called, and the girl instantly jumped up from her position on the bench, placing the red notebook into her school bag as she followed her sister out of the door. Paying no more attention to her little sister, Vicky turned back to Carrie. It was only a ten minute walk from the school to the Symonedies house, and Vicky and Carrie easily managed to spend the whole time chatting. School, friends, the competition - all were discussed on the short walk. Carrie could tell that they would be up all night talking, and while she would never normally consider this the day before a big competition, this was an exception - after all, they could sleep the whole way up to Birmingham, she reasoned. As they entered the large two-story house, Carrie was surprised when Kitty dodged past them and ran up the stairs towards her room two at a time. Not paying it much attention, the two girls dumped their bags by the wall and continued their debate on whether or not they should write a letter of complaint to Mr Flatley about the poor quality of the gym apparatus St Hopes provided. About five minutes later, they were just heading into the living room when there was the sound of someone coming down the stairs. Carrie turned her head to see if it was Kitty or their Dad, and was surprised by what she saw.

Kitty - the small, nondescript, easily missed girl - had changed completely. Gone were the awkward plaits, the slightly crumpled posture and the slightly large school uniform. Instead, Kitty's hair had been pulled back into a neat bun, which was set on the back of her head. She was wearing a grey and pink track suit which fitted her perfectly. Her shoulders were straight and she was standing tall - well, maybe not tall, but taller than she had been before. Carrie could have sworn that it was a totally different girl in front of her. Katalina saw Carrie looking, and immediately dropped her head, her cheeks burning. Clearly, she wasn't quite as changed as Carrie had originally thought. "Where are you off to, Kitty?" Carrie asked, noting the trainers and dark blue shoulder bag. At this, Vicky finally turned around to see what was going on. She took her sister in in one glance.

"Oh, Kat's off to dance," she announced carelessly, already bored of the subject. Carrie, however, had never suspected this talent in Kitty.

"I didn't know you dance!" Carrie said, her voice bursting with energy as usual. Katalina shrugged, her cheeks burning and a look of despair in her eyes. Carrie could guess that her dance was a secret - she was often over at the Symonedies house and it had never been mentioned before. Looking for an escape route, Kitty darted out of the front door and jumped in the car. Slightly amused at this display, Carrie turned and followed Vicky into the living room.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
**I don't own MI High.**

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Vicky and Carrie left the house very early the next morning, but Katalina was still up to wave them off. Once they were gone, she went back inside and made herself pancakes for breakfast - a treat as a celebration that she had the house to herself - before getting ready for school. She then wrote for a while until it was time to leave for school. Making sure she had her notebook, a banana and the door keys, Katalina left right on time and arrived at school a bit early. Without Vicky the walk took a much shorter time.

The day passed as normal until the first lesson after lunch. Nobody spoke to Katalina, she didn't speak to anyone. But then in PSHE, Mrs King announced a 'new initiative' to the class that made her insides freeze with fear. Teambuilding, class spirit and making new friends was how she described it. Torture was closer to Katalina's opinion. Everyone in the class had to produce a short biography of their desk partner, including their likes and dislikes, skills, family...et cetera. Quickly throwing a glance across the desk, Katalina saw that her desk partner, who would therefore be her partner for this project too, was looking nearly as distraught as she was feeling. Oscar was throwing glances at Rose, one of his best friends, but somehow Katalina thought that he wasn't only upset that he had to partner her. Maybe he didn't want to share his history? Katalina remembered how dismissive of his family he had been when they were all meant to be doing family trees - overly dismissive, almost, as though he didn't want anyone researching his family. Odd, she thought. But that didn't change the fact that talking to people about herself, her likes and dislikes, her skills, her family et cetera, was the last thing she would want to do.

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Oscar stared at Mrs King in horror. Family, likes and dislikes, skills? It was worse than the family tree project. His entire cover could be blown if he let one tiny detail slip. He saw Rose swivel in her seat to look at him - she knew his predicament. Oscar could feel himself getting more and more worked up. _Calm down, _he told himself firmly. _Just thank your lucky stars that you don't have Avril as a desk partner. It's hardly like Catarina is going to be asking very many in-depth questions, if she actually manages to talk at all. _Taking a few deep breaths to steady himself, he looked over at his partner. As normal, there were no emotions showing on her face, but he could see her eyes flicking nervously around the room, betraying her distress. _She has major shyness issues_ Oscar thought amusedly to himself, his panicked mood disappearing. At least she had nothing to hide - not like him, who would have to move into a whole new life if he let one tiny detail slip through his filter.

"Off you go, then!" Mrs King concluded, and the classroom burst into chatter as people turned to their desk partners and began talking. Oscar grinned good-naturedly at Catarina.

"Shall we start?" he asked. Nodding mutely in reply, she reached into her bag and pulled out some filing paper and a pen. Sliding a few sheets over to him, she uncapped her pen and began writing something in tiny writing across the top of the page. Oscar pushed his chair a bit closer so that he could read the microscopic words. 'PSHE Project - Oscar Cole' she had written, fitting the words into a space of about one inch. Copying her, he pulled out his own pen and wrote in his normal, sloping writing 'PSHE Project - Catarina', before realising that he had no idea what her surname was. Seeing that he was hesitating, Catarina looked over at his sheet and read what he had written.

"Um," she said very quietly, so that Oscar had to strain to hear her over the din of the classroom, "my name's Katalina." Oscar, very embarrassed, crossed out Catarina and replaced it with Katalina. "And my surname's Symeonides," she said, turning her paper over and spelling it out on the back. Quickly copying it down, Oscar then underlined his title and apologised. It was quite embarrassing that not only did he not know the surname of a girl he had sat next to for two terms of school, but also got her first name wrong. "Symeonides? That sounds Greek," he said, trying to break the silence and start the conversation. He knew quite well that 'Symeonides' was Greek, but then he wasn't meant to be a foreign languages expert, he was meant to be an ordinary schoolboy.

"Ναι, είναι. Η οικογένειά μου είναι ελληνική."(_Y__es, it is. My family is Greek.)_ she replied, looking at Oscar straight for the first time.

"What does that mean?" he asked, trying to look confused even though he knew precisely what she had said. A very faint, almost imperceptible look of frustration crossed Katalina's face - the first emotion he had ever seen her show.

"Oscar, ξέρω ότι ξέρεις τι σημαίνει,"(_Oscar, I know you know what it means) _she said. Oscar looked at her, all his previous fears about the project flooding back sevenfold. How on earth did Katalina know he spoke Greek? Did she know about the other languages he spoke too, then? Did she know about MI High? Was she an enemy agent? If she wasn't, how much more did she know that she shouldn't? These and a thousand more questions whirled around his head as he looked at the girl who he had sat next to for months but never really noticed. He was on the verge of making an excuse to get out of class and run down to HQ and ask Frank what to do, when the new threat spoke again. "I won't tell anyone if you don't want them to know." A momentary relief was quickly eradicated. First, he could not take her word for it - he barely knew her. Second, the fact she knew was dangerous in itself. Third, what else did she know?

"How...do you know?" he managed to get out. Katalina looked down at the desk, clearly feeling that she had done enough talking for the day.

"I was walking to school, and you were behind me. You were on the phone to someone called Missy, and you were speaking Greek to her." Not elaborating any further, Katalina merely looked at Oscar, her unreadable face free of emotion again. Oscar was astounded.

"You heard me talking to Missy? But there was nobody around - I'm sure there wasn't." Katalina shrugged, and Oscar half-agreed that she could not have known otherwise. But he had been certain nobody else was around when Missy - short for Artemis, who was a friend he had met while in Greece not on a mission, and had therefore been able to keep in contact with - had called. Hopefully, though, this at least meant that Katalina didn't know about any of his other linguistic achievements. Suddenly, he saw Mrs King heading their way to check on their progress. "OK. So, do you have any siblings?" He asked quickly.

"One sister," Katalina replied. Wanting to sigh in frustration, Oscar probed,

"Older or younger? Does she go here? What's her name?" Katalina stared at the desk, evidently hating having to talk about herself.

"Victoria's in the year above us," she said. Oscar was slightly disbelieving.

"Victoria the gymnast? The one who's just gone to Birmingham?" Carrie was always talking about what Vicky and she did together, and Victoria was school royalty. That she was related to the overly quiet and easily missed Katalina was nearly inconceivable. But Katalina nodded silently, her demeanor suggesting that she was very used to people not believing she was related to Victoria. "You don't look much like her." This was also acknowledged silently. It was an understatement, Oscar thought - Vicky, who was generally regarded as beautiful, and Katalina, who was...well, easily missed. "Wait, so that means Carrie was staying with you last night?" Carrie had been overly excited about the sleepover with her 'gymnastics sister', as she called Vicky.

"She stayed with Vicky," was the soft correction. Oscar nodded slowly, although he didn't really see the difference - perhaps it was something you needed to have siblings to understand. He was about to ask something else, but Mrs King's booming voice then announced the end of the lesson. Frowning, he stood up, walked quickly over to Rose's desk and tapped his pencil against it. That was their way of telling each other to head to HQ if Frank wasn't calling them - they couldn't operate the buzzer without being in HQ itself.


	6. Chapter 5

_Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far! I like people commenting so I know if it's good or not, so please review!  
__**I don't own MI**_** High.**

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Rose made her way down to HQ as soon as she could without attracting undue attention. Therefore, three minutes later she was walking out of the lift into HQ dressed in the very latest spy gear instead of her school uniform. Oscar was sitting at one of the computers looking very worried. "Oscar, what is it?" she asked as she sat down in one of the chairs next to him. Frank came out of the inventing room and seconded the question. As an answer, Oscar said,

"You both know Victoria, right?" Frank and Rose both nodded slowly.

"The gymnast in the year above us who's gone to Carrie's competition? What about her?" Rose was still looking puzzled as she tried to figure out what was worrying Oscar so much.

"Did you know she has a sister?" At this, both of them finally looked surprised.

"No. Who is it?" Frank asked, evidently running through all the students in his head and trying to figure out which one it was.

"Katalina Symeonides. She's in our class." Rose looked slightly puzzled again, before her expression changed to bemusement.

"That girl you sit next to in registration? With the plaits?" Oscar nodded, although Frank still looked at a loss as to who they were referring to. "I would never have guessed! They're really sisters? Wow. They're so different! Vicky's a school star, but Katalina's ..." here she trailed off, not knowing the right way to express how easy it was to miss Katalina.

"I know. Different. She's got this trick of becoming invisible in plain sight, or so it seems. I honestly didn't know her name properly until this morning. It was incredibly embarrassing when I got it wrong on the PSHE project."

"What's your point, Oscar?" Frank pressed, clearly confused as to where this conversation was heading.

"We were talking - well, I was talking to her in PSHE. We're doing this project about our backgrounds, family, et cetera. I wasn't that worried about it because the only time I've ever really heard Katalina talk is when she answers the register. But about two minutes in, she reveals that she knows I speak Greek fluently." Frank and Rose immediately realised the gravity of the situation, but Oscar waved off their questions. "Let me finish. She goes on to say that the reason she knows is that she heard me talking Greek on the phone with Missy. I hadn't even noticed that she was right in front of me. Who knows how much else she knows and isn't letting on? She seems to have major shyness issues or something, maybe she just hates talking, but even if she knows these things, regardless of whether she intends to tell people or not, she's a threat."

"Oscar, this is really serious," Frank broke in. "Normally we're all about tackling the big and obvious threats, but threats come in all shapes and forms and this girl - Katalina - seems to be a big one. You say she has a trick of being easily missed, but that doesn't mean she isn't there. You're right, this could be bad. We need to find out how much she knows, how likely she is to tell anyone, and how likely she is to be a threat on her own, before we can even consider applying to MI9 for a memory wipe."

"But even then, what's to stop her from learning it all again?" Rose interrupted.

"We'll jump that hurdle when we reach it. When Carrie gets back in two days, you're all going on surveillance. Find out how much she knows, how likely she is to tell someone or how likely she is to use it on her own. But until then, I suggest you get back to class or you'll be late." Oscar checked his watch to see that Frank was right and groaned slightly. One of the many inconveniences of having the base undercover as a school was that the spies had to stick to the timetable - if only the curriculum would fit itself around their other 'activities'.

* * *

_I hope you enjoyed it! Now I've updated both my stories today, I'm afraid another update won't be here until at least Wednesday. Why? Because it's my birthday this weekend! So I won't have any time to write. Sorry!  
Please review!_


	7. Chapter 6

_Here's the next chapter! Sorry it took me so long to update, but life has been hectic and I was trying to finish off my other story. Enjoy and review!  
__**I don't own MI High.**_

* * *

_For the past two days, I've been regretting telling Oscar that I know he speaks Greek. He's been striking up conversations that it is really hard to get out of, he's been smiling at me when I sit down...he's been noticing me. I haven't been properly looked at since I was 11, and I'm so unused to it that I really don't like it anymore. I am so much happier quietly observing than I am taking part now, because for so long I couldn't take part in a conversation without it turning to how 'posh' my accent was. I suppose that was the first reason that I started talking less. It's not a decision I regret at all, for four years before I joined St Hopes I wasn't bullied exactly but people were constantly making fun of how I spoke. I don't know why my voice is that different to Vicky's - I can't hear any difference at all, but maybe she didn't get teassed and ostracized simply because of her personality._

_Anyway, I'm doing my best to avoid Oscar, but it;s so hard sometimes when he seems to simply pop up around corners and - twice - quite literally out of cupboards. What's so interesting in the caretaker's cupboard? It's strange, he looked so guilty when he saw me, like he had a massive secret. And the door locked after him, I heard it. Weird..._

_Vicky got back today at lunchtime. With a medal, of course. Carrie had one too. They were both in such high spirits that it was very, very easy to just fade into the background and listen..._

* * *

Carrie's spirits were flying. Not only had she gone to a massive competition and come out of it really well, so had her best non-MI High friend Vicky. The two-hour drive had seemed to go by in minutes, both of them talking nineteen to the dozen. When they arrived at Vicky's, both of them helped carry their bags into the house before running up to Vicky's room, throwing on their heavily customised school uniforms and slinging their bags over their shoulders. Then they ran out again and jogged down to school. During the car ride home they had planned their grand entrance into the school very carefully. Vicky had texted her little sister and told her to tell Mrs King that they would be arriving at the start of lunch break, and that they had both received medals. This would ensure that Mrs King was there to greet them when they arrived. Then they would waltz into the school playground, medals shining around their necks, basking in praise.

The plan started off working perfectly. Carrie could hardly contain her laughter as Mrs King came rushing out to see the two national-standard gymnasts return from a competition, congratulating them in a loud voice and admiring their medals. Then they headed to Vicky's classroom, followed by Vicky's little sister, who had appeared at some point, Carrie was not quite sure when. After they dumped their bags on Vicky's desk, they walked out into the sunshine outside. Almost immediately, they were surrounded by people asking them questions about the competition, admiring their medals, trying to make out that they were best friends with Carrie and Vicky, and generally treating them like minor celebrities - which, in St Hopes, they were. About ten minutes after they first went out, Carrie and Vicky were sitting on the grass and leaning against one of the trees, fielding the many questions, when Oscar appeared out of nowhere. He smiled at the two girls pointing at Carrie's medal and mouthing "Well done". He didn't even try to get close to the pair of them, as they were surrounded and he wasn't even meant to be a particularly close friend of hers. Then he disappeared again, and Carrie returned to enjoying the praise and adulation. Then Rose also appeared, mouthed "Well done", and disappeared. Pleased that both of her teammates had come out to congratulate her, even though their covers dictated that they weren't very close, Carrie smiled privately to herself before turning to Vicky.

"Hey Vicky, I don't know about you but I'm a bit hungry," she said. After all, it was 1.30 and neither of them had eaten any lunch. The older girl turned her head and smiled.

"Me too. Ugh, but I'm too comfy to move." It was true. The weather was really good for the time of year, it was a lovely day. Torn over the age-old dilemma of whether to sacrifice a comfy position for food, Vicky and Carrie paused for a moment. Then the lazy grin returned to Vicky's face. "Got it. Katty?" She raised her voice, not bothering to turn her head. Like a ghost, Carrie suddenly saw Katalina standing quite near them both. Had she been there all the time, Carrie wondered lazily, or had she ust appeared? It didn't really matter. "Go and get me and Carrie some lunch," Vicky said in a tone of voice that did not allow for discussion or protestation, adding only as an afterthought, "please." Katalina quietly slipped through the chattering crowd.

"What would you like?" she asked quietly, staring at the ground. Vicky and Carrie thought for a second.

"Cheese and mozzarella sandwich," Vicky said eventually, "and a muffin."

"Just plain cheese and a muffin, please," Carrie said, glad that the dilemma was solved. Considering she was sitting on the ground, she was really very comfortable. Carrie didn't even notice Katalina leaving, instead turning back to the gaggle of people around her and continuing the story she had been telling previously about the dreadful girl who had forgotten her floor routine and had a screaming fit because the judges wouldn't let her start again. in a few minutes, she was thrown a cheese sandwich and muffin by Vicky. "Thanks Vicky," she said, biting into the sandwich.


	8. Chapter 7

_Here's Chapter 7!  
__**I don't own MI High.**_

* * *

Carrie was only halfway through her sandwich when she felt a buzzing in her sleeve. Her communicator. Ugh, right when she was having a wonderful time and was very comfy on the ground. They all knew that she had just got back, surely it could have waited until next lesson. Probably needed her to save the world. At this, the reluctance to leave fled and Carrie's passion for defeating evil returned. While the team might know that she had just got back, the super villains didn't but they were just about to find out. Carrie Stewart was back in business.

Which made it quite disappointing for her when she got down to HQ and discovered Frank, Rose and Oscar sitting around a table and just talking. No gadgets in sight, no look of stress caused by an impeding nuclear bomb explosion or other massive SKUL takeover plan. They were just sitting as though today was an utterly normal day. When they heard the lift doors, Oscar, Rose and Frank turned in their chairs. "Carrie!" Frank said, pleased to see her. "Well done on your medal." Carrie smiled at him, although there was a little tension in it. This congratulations could have waited until first period after lunch.

"Carrie's annoyed we dragged her away from Vicky," Rose's musical voice came from behind Frank. At this, some of the annoyance genuinely left Carrie. Rose knew her so well that it was sometimes as though she was a physic.

"Maybe a little," she agreed, walking over and pulling up her own chair, "but it's silly and selfish. What did you call me down for?" The light and cheerful expressions on everyone's faced were instantly wiped away and replaced with worried and serious ones.

"We need to talk about someone in your class," Frank started. "They're beginning to be quite a major security threat." Carrie scoffed slightly. Someone in their class?

"Who in our class could possibly be a security threat to MI9? The three of us, but we work for MI9. Everyone else is ... surely unable to pose any threat to us?"

"Well, that's what we thought." Frank said. "We thought that up until the day you left. Then we were forced to radically reconsider. Care to guess who it might be that this discussion is about?" Carrie wracked her brains for someone who could possibly cause the serious looks on her team's faces.

"Avril?" she hazarded a guess. After all, Avril had been the one to find Oscar's family tree... but Frank shook his head. Now Carrie had absolutely no idea. "Scoop? Davina? Donovan?" She ran through what seemed to be the entire register. "I give up. There is no one else in our class!" A strangely satisfied look appeared on Frank's face, as though Carrie had just proved a theory he had been working on for some time.

"But that's where you're wrong, Carrie. There is." Annoyed at all the secrecy, Carrie said

"Just tell me already!" Grinning slightly at her trademark impatience, Rose said

"Katalina Symeonides." Carrie let a beat of silence pass, before laughing.

"OK, now tell me seriously." There was no doubt in her mind that Rose was joking - Vicky's little sister could never pose a threat to anyone. But Rose, Oscar and Frank were all shaking their heads.

"Rose was being serious, Carrie," Frank said, no trace of amusement in his voice. "Why don't you sit down." Everyone moved into a seat that surrounded the round table. "So, Katalina Symeonides. Quiet by anyone's standards. Never draws attention. Little sister to school darling Victoria Symeonides. All correct?" Carrie nodded. "In PSHE while you were away, Oscar was paired up with Katalina for a project about family history, personality, and all the things that we do not want anyone finding out about Oscar." Carrie began to interrupt with a protest that Katalina _never_ spoke, and so would not find anything out that they didn't want her to, but Frank stopped her. "I know what you're going to say, and that was Oscar's first thought. But then Katalina revealed something ... concerning, to say the least." Oscar broke in to Frank's rather long-winded speech.

"She knows I speak Greek," he stated bluntly. And _now _Carrie was worried. Just like the others had, she saw the severity of the threat that this posed to Oscar, and therefore, the team. "And we don't know what else she has noticed. For some reason, everyone - myself included - doesn't seem to notice that she is there. She said that she had heard me talking on the phone to Artemis - remember when she came over? - but I never spoke to Missy except when I thought that I was on my own."

"Because she's always been so inconsequential that nobody ever pays her any attention, meaning that she hears things that people think that she doesn't," Carrie said, working it all out. "That makes sense. I can see that with Vicky for an older sister..."

"It's easy for her to fall into the shadows," Rose confirmed. "And until now, we didn't realise how dangerous the shadows were." The team looked worriedly around at each other. The fact that Katalina knew Oscar spoke Greek was, on its own, not too serious. But it was the question of what else she knew and wasn't letting on that was concerning them.

"Well, it seems to me that if we are going to find out how much of a threat Katalina is, we need to know her," Oscar said. "Carrie, you go over to her house quite a bit - what's she like there?"

Carrie shrugged. "Exactly the same. She's almost like a ghost - I don't notice she's there unless someone actually points her out." Thinking hard, she tried to come up with something that could be useful for the team. "She always does exactly what Vicky says," she mused, "She never questions her or says no to her."

"I wonder why that is," Frank said curiously. "You've never noticed her say no to her at all? She's 16, surely she isn't a perfect angel the whole time?"

"That's not right," Carrie disagreed. "She's not like an angel, she just...never refuses Vicky anything. Just now, we were on the playing field, and Vicky...and I... didn't want to move, but we were hungry, so Vicky just said 'Katty," and she was suddenly there, but I hadn't noticed her before. And then Vicky and I said what we wanted and she just disappeared and after a few minutes Vicky threw me the food. Katalina wasn't even there, that I noticed..." Carrie was a bit embarrassed at her lack of attention.

"OK. That's a little strange, but nothing really special I think. Maybe our first idea should be to read her notebook? She's always scribbling, and you never know, it might be something important," Oscar said. Glad to have a plan, everyone agreed. "So we'll try and steal her notebook at some point. That's do-able."

Carrie nodded enthusiastically. "How about during Gym? you know Vicky and I won the school some new gym equipment? Well Gym's later on today, she won't be able to keep her bag with her during that. One of us asks to go to the toilet, on the way takes the notebook. It would have to be me or Rose - Oscar won't be allowed in the girl's changing room." Everyone agreed, glad to have a plan. "Let's do it!"


	9. Chapter 8

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for all the reviews. Hope you enjoy Chapter 8!  
**I don't own MI High.**

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"Alright, everyone, quiet, please!" she shouted. And unlike when Mr Flatley called for quiet, there was instant silence. Stepping forwards together, she and Carrie began explaining what was going to happen in that lesson - trampoline, they had decided. It was highly probable that nobody would get further that bouncing up and down, but there was no point in having the equipment and not using it. After the brief safety talk Mrs King gave, telling everyone to listen to Vicky and Carrie and do exactly what they said, Carrie began to lead a warm-up while Vicky got the trampolines out. They were proper gymnastic trampolines, set on legs high enough off the ground that the bouncing person could not touch the floor.

"Everyone, jogging three times around the hall!" Carrie shouted, to the dismay of everyone. "Now!" she snapped. When she was in charge, Carrie could be quite scary! When everyone had done the laps, she took them through some types of dynamic stretching, before starting on static stretching. "OK, everyone sit down," she said. Some people seemed to think that they were getting a break, and so were in for a shock when Carrie leaned forwards and folded so that her top half was lying completely flat on her legs. "Try and copy me," she said encouragingly. "Reach forwards and touch your toes, then try and reach further." Several very dubious looks were shot at her, and Scoop muttered 'That's not even right, how do you do that!', but only a few people moved to try and do it. Oscar, who obviously was nearly as flat as Carrie, Rose, who was nearly as flat as Oscar, Davina, who was miles off and couldn't even touch her toes, Kaylie, who wasn't _that_ bad, Phoebe, who managed to touch her toes although a expression of great pain was on her face, Michael, who really was quite good, and Katalina. Katalina was just as flat as Carrie, and not looking as though it was a struggle at all. Her only reaction being to raise one eyebrow slightly, Carrie stood up and walked around the semicircle. Katalina amazed Carrie with her flexibility. Splits, she went down and then leaned back until she was lying on her back leg. Box splits, she lay flat down and then lifted one leg slightly off the floor. With some people this might have seemed like showing off, but the way Katalina did it, almost mindlessly, as though her thoughts were far, far away, made it seem perfectly natural and not something to wonder at. By the time everyone was warmed up, Carrie was 100% certain that the dancing she had heard Katalina mention _only once _was actually a massive part of her life. But such was the small girls' invisibility that Carrie was sure that only she, Oscar and Rose had noticed.

By then, Vicky had set the two trampolines up, and together the two girls jumped up onto them. "Right, everyone over here!" Vicky shouted, and everyone stood up and walked to the edge of the trampolines. Vicky showed them how to bounce safely, before Carrie and her gave a short display of what everyone was working towards - a very simple front drop that everyone should have nailed in a few weeks at the most - and then a display of what was possible on a trampoline. This amazed all the students, and Carrie could see that Vicky was loving the attention. So different from her sister, she mused to herself as she jumped off the trampoline and organized everyone into two groups, one for each trampoline. You could never imagine Vicky hiding in the shadows. Carrie made sure that Rose and Oscar were in the same group and Katalina was in the other, so that one of them could easily run off when it was Katalina's turn on the trampoline. The first two people scrambled in a very ungainly manner onto the trampoline, and Matilda promptly fell over. Michael managed to stay upright until he tried to bounce for the first time, before he too fell. Carrie and Vicky smiled at each other. This was going to be funny. Obviously, the pair did everything they could to help everyone and make it safe, but when Scoop couldn't even get onto the trampoline, it was quite amusing. One of his buddies had to give him a leg up.

Katalina was on Vicky's trampoline. When it was her turn, she vaulted up neatly and quietly waited for her sister to tell her what to do. Carrie noticed with the half of her attention that was on Vicky - Oscar was on her trampoline right now and Carrie had seen Oscar on a trampoline a million times during training - that there was a visible look of annoyance on Vicky's face as she started to snap orders at Katalina, whose face was burning red. Wondering what was annoying her best friend so much, Carrie broke her attention away and shot a meaningful look at Rose, who nodded and walked away from the group and asked Mrs King if she could go to the toilet. Once she had permission, she jogged off into the girls' changing room.

Carrie half-watched as Vicky instructed Katalina in what to do. It was clear that the dance training had paid off - Katalina was graceful in an understated sort of way. Katalina was obviously hating the experience and wishing to get off the trampoline, where everyone's eyes were on her.

* * *

As the line in front of her slowly diminished, bringing her closer and closer to the trampoline, Katalina wished that she had been put in the group Carrie was leading. Vicky _hated _Katalina encroaching on what she viewed as her territory - it was the main reason that Katalina had never tried gymnastics, although her dad had often said when she was little that she would be good at it. The problem was that she was flexible and able to keep her balance, Katalina mused as the line shrunk further. Vicky thought that she might try and overtake her, not that that would ever happen. No, sticking to dance was by far easier. But then it was her turn. Katalina vaulted onto the trampoline, keeping her head down, not looking at her older sister as she stood on the red cross and waited for Vicky to tell her what to do. She could see that Carrie was half-watching her and Vicky, but so was everybody else. It was her worst nightmare - she was being watched by at least half of her year, and it was impossible to hide. Katalina felt her face burning as she kept her eyes firmly trained on the skin of the trampoline. If she didn't look at anyone, maybe she could forget that they were watching.

As she began to bounce, Katalina kept half of her attention on what Vicky was saying and half on ignoring everyone. She was doing quite well until Rose Gupta broke away from the group and jogged off into the changing room. It's alright, she told herself frantically. Rose was obviously just going to the toilet, and anyway, she didn't have any reason to be interested in Katalina's notebook. She would be back in a few minutes. She was just overreacting. Nevertheless, Katalina couldn't calm herself down. When finally Vicky told her to get off the trampoline - her exact words were "That's quite enough, Katalina, you're not letting anyone else have a turn," even though she wasn't meant to get down until Vicky told her to - she immediately asked Mrs King if she could go to the toilet. Dashing towards the changing room, Katalina registered vaguely that Carrie had a very worried look on her face and so did Oscar, but discarded the thought as coincidence. She ran into the changing room and saw Rose standing by one of the bags - thankfully not Katalina's, but the shoulder bag Katalina recognised as belonging to her. Rose looked around as Katalina came in, and a strange look crossed her face - one that most probably wouldn't have noticed, but after so long observing people Katalina saw it easily. Rose looked as though she was reasonably successfully trying to hide that she was shocked.

"Oh, hello, Katalina," she said, and this only made Katalina more confused. Rose had never in her life acknowledged Katalina's existence, let alone started talking to her. Then Rose turned away again, pulling a lip gloss out of her bag before heading back into the gym. Darting towards her rucksack, Katalina rifled through her books, searching for the familiar red notebook. Thank goodness, it was there. Zipping her bag back up, Katalina headed back into the gym, chiding herself for being so unnecessarily paranoid. Rose probably hadn't even noticed that Katalina had a notebook!


	10. Chapter 9

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you enjoy this chapter - please review!  
_**I don't own MI High.**_

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First break after Gym, Oscar, Carrie and Rose all met down in HQ. As soon as they met up outside, Rose was bombarded with questions.

"Did you get it?"

"Did she see you?"

Looking slightly annoyed, Rose answered the first question by pulling a red leather notebook out of her bag. "Honestly, guys, have some faith in me. Of course I got it. Of course she didn't see me. Hopefully it will be a while before she realises it is gone - I exchanged it with another red notebook that looks similar from the outside. I haven't read it yet. Hi, Frank!" The last part was said as the lift doors opened. Frank was standing by the computers. "Here it is." She threw the small book over to Frank, who sat down at the table, motioned the agents over and opened it on the first page. They all walked over to read over his shoulder. The miniscule writing that Oscar had seen her use in PSHE covered the page, leaving no lines free.

_I'm the girl that nobody sees. I'm the girl who could be invisible, or not there, for all the difference it makes to everybody else. I'm the girl who could harm anyone, but no one realises it. People just don't see me. A classroom that I am in is an empty classroom. And this means that best friends have private conversations around me, without realising that I can hear and am storing every detail in my mental library._

_One of my favourite things to do is watch people. Not anyone in particular, just people. This means that I know a lot about my classmates that I sometimes think they don't even know themselves. And I don't forget. Never. I can remember so much that I sometimes wish my brain had a 'delete' button. Some things you don't want to remember_.

At this point, Oscar, Rose, Carrie and Frank all looked at each other. An indescribable sadness was settling inside Oscar - it was one thing to be as quiet, as miss-able, as invisible as Katalina and not really notice it, because it is how life has always been. Somehow, it was sadder that Katalina was aware of the truth that nobody noticed her. "That's so sad," Rose said quietly, giving words to the sadness Oscar was feeling.

"And slightly crazy," Carrie broke in. "Imagine never forgetting anything because..."

"There's nothing to drive it away," Rose said understandingly. Frank was looking worried.

"If she knows and notices as much as this suggests, Katalina could potentially be a serious problem." Rose shook her head disbelievingly, but didn't say anything. Oscar turned back to the little book.

_I'm not sad that I don't have any friends. It gives me time. When you don't have friends, you can watch everyone, learn things about them that they think only they and their best friend know. When no one regards you, you have time to watch the world. Everything interests me. And I truly mean everything. I could be content for hours locked in a room that was completely bare, just looking at the walls. I could be counting the number of bricks. I could be thinking about a member of my class. I could be working things out - like why someone had locked me in a completely bare room. _

_I'm never, ever bored. That does not mean I always pay attention to what is going on around me. But when I have decided that my thoughts are more interesting, my gaze slips inwards, and I enter my own world. It's like there are two sections to my brain. One that is permanently noticing things - that Davina wore that top a year ago, and has obviously kept it in case it came back in fashion, that Avril is writing a long letter of complaint to Oscar about him never noticing her that she will destroy and never send just like she does with all the others, that Scoop has a massive crush on Rose and is trying to catch her attention - and one that drifts in between paying attention to the world and thinking my own thoughts._

_I don't mind being the girl nobody sees. But that doesn't mean that I never feel lonely. Often, I feel loneliest in the middle of all my classmates, when they are swirling and chattering to each other and nobody sees me. Sometimes I think about what my life would have been like if I'd joined a different school, been born somewhere else, or simply started to speak to people more often. But my thoughts don't follow this train often. I think about other people far more than I think about myself._

At this point, Carrie pulled out the chair next to Frank and sat down. Following her example, Oscar and Rose also sat. Carrie grinned mischievously at Rose. "Scoops's got a crush on Rose? I must remember to thank Katalina for telling me that." Rose elbowed her gently.

"I think we should be trying to get hold of some of these letters Avril is writing - they sound good," Rose said. But then Frank broke in.

"Please! Don't you think we should be worried about how she knows all this, when it is new information to highly trained MI9 agents?" Looking slightly abashed at their lack of attention, the team turned back to the notebook.

_Because I have no one to talk to, I keep my feelings closed up inside me. A massive lake in my soul, filled with emotions. On the outside, I never betray feelings. But nobody can stopper up their emotions completely - everyone needs an outlet. Most people don't even realize they have an outlet, but a listening ear is all it takes. As I don't have that, I dance. When I dance I let all my emotions out, and it's the only time I'm not invisible. I dance four times a week, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and I look forwards to my lessons like nothing else. But nobody except my father knows I dance. And I want it to stay that way._

_A habit that I have been in for a few years is writing down all my thoughts in notebooks. A sort of diary, I suppose, only I write in it a lot more than most teenage girls write in a diary. I can finish a notebook in a month, easily. It gives me a calm feeling, recording all my thoughts, makes everything seem more manageable. If I'm angry about something, I write it down, and it doesn't seem nearly such as big a problem as it did when all my rage was only inside me. When something has upset me, I write it down, and then I can think about it more rationally. Obviously, if someone got hold of these notebooks, they would have a direct path into my head. All my thoughts, emotions, musings...everything would be recorded for them to read. So I keep them very safe. All the finished ones are locked in a box in my bedroom, and I have the only key to that box. It's not a flimsy, easy to pick lock, either. And then that box is hidden, so that it is impossible to stumble across it by mistake. And the book I am writing in at the time never leaves my possession. Once I've finished a book, I lock it up, and don't look at it again. I imagine that one day in the distant future, I'll open the box and read through all my past notebooks, thinking how silly my teenager self was. _

_This is my most beautiful notebook yet. I love it already. Vicky gave it to me - it was one of her birthday presents, but she didn't want it. It feels lovely to write in. Vicky is my older sister - Victoria Isabella Symeonide__s. She's a year older than me, and as different from me as she could possibly be. She's tall and willowy, with beautiful black hair that flows down her back in waves - when Mrs King doesn't tell her to tie it up. I'm small and incredibly average looking, with hair that can't seem to choose between blonde and brown that I plait in two plaits every day._

_My name is Katalina May Symeonides._

That was the end of the first page.

* * *

"I knew the dancing was important to her," Carrie muttered, almost to herself. "Explains a lot." Letting this comment pass without comment, Frank stood up and placed the book in the middle of the table, before walking to one of the computers. Without really thinking about it, Oscar pulled it towards himself and turned to the next page. It detailed the day that Carrie and Vicky left for the Birmingham competition. Scanning down it, he began to get a feel for the 'invisible girl'. Certain phrases jumped out at him - _behind every successful person, behind every person who has ever been on the front of a magazine or on television, there is a team of people that get no appreciation, but are nevertheless essential to that person's success - I could tell that Oscar was thinking how useless the whole subject was and how he would never use it after school - the way she talks to me when she's at our house, you'd really think that she was a year older than me too, instead of in my year - I hope Vicky and Carrie do well in Birmingham - _this book really was a door into her head, like she had said on the first page. It made Oscar slightly uncomfortable reading it, but not as much as some of the things that he read. The view Katalina took on being constantly overshadowed, her almost supernatural talent to know exactly what he had been thinking during art, her account of how Carrie treated her out of school. It was a very unusual person who sees themselves as only the backup team to their sister but still hopes the same sister does well in everything. A very unusual person who can seemingly read minds like books merely through body language. A very unusual person, he realised, that could get through whole days saying only four words - the 'yes sir' for morning and afternoon registration. Then Carrie began talking.

"I'm only just realising that Katalina is a real person." There was a guilty tone in her voice. "I've been best friends with Vicky for three years now, and I know nothing at all about her little sister, who is in my class. I've never even been into her room. Its like she was always ... a ghost, not really there."

"There, but not important enough to think about," Rose broke in. "Carrie, you mustn't feel like this is all your fault. We all thought the same about Katalina. Everyone does.

"I'm the one that didn't actually know her name," Oscr broke in, wanting to make Carrie feel better. "That was very embarrassing." Carrie smiled a little.

"Right, team," Frank broke in. "I've made my decision. We need to interrogate Katalinaa to find out what she knows, it's the most efficient way. She could easily not have written a vital piece of information in her books."

"Great," Carrie said, glad to have a plan. "But she is the quietest person ever ,it will be like trying to get blood out of a stone. And then she'll know about MI High! How do we get past that?" But Frank had thought of that already.

"MI9 scientists have developed a new way of using the truth serum. First hypnotise the person, and then give them the serum. The problem with the old one was that it was possible to defy it by telling only part of the truth, or choosing which version of the truth to tell, or giving answers which were essentially true but completely unhelpful. With the new one, as the person is in an hypnotic state, it is much easier to get the answers. And due to the hypnotic state, it will be easy to make her forget what had happened."

Rose smiled. "I helped develop that method," she said proudly. "So it's a plan?" They all nodded. "I can get hold of some serum for tomorrow."

"We will need to inform Stark that we are doing this," Frank said cautiously. "As it might need a memory wipe."

"Do we have to?" Carrie asked, but Frank nodded firmly.

"Sorry, but yes. Now, we need a space that we can use without any chance of anyone walking in on us. Bearing in mind that we'll all need to be there, I say that HQ is the best place to use. Remember that we can make her forget everything afterwards." Everyone nodded, although it did feel slightly dangerous to be letting an outsider into HQ. "Rose, make sure that you bring the serum. What do you think will be the easiest way to get her down here?"

Oscar had an idea. "We've got PSHE again tomorrow, period 3. How about I ask Mrs King to go to the library, tell Katalina I want to show her something?"

"That does sound like a good idea," Frank agreed. "See you all tomorrow. Be down here period 2, we'll need to talk to Stark for a bit beforehand." Together, Oscar, Carrie and Rose left HQ to go back to class.


	11. Chapter 10

Here is the next chapter!  
**I don't own MI High.**

* * *

As soon as first period ended the next day, Oscar made his way down to HQ along with Carrie and Rose. When the lift doors opened, he saw Frank and Stark standing at the end of the room. They both turned around at the sound of the lift. "Agents," Stark greeted them briefly. "London is just telling me what is going on. Why wasn't this threat picked up before?" Oscar restrained from rolling his eyes at Starks attempt to score one above them.

"Sorry, Chief Agent Stark." he knew by now that only an apology would calm Stark in any way - explanations fell on deaf ears. Looking slightly appeased, Stark demanded to be told the plan. "In period 3, I will ask Mrs King to go to the library. As Katalina is my partner, she will have to come too. I will tell her that there is something that I want to show her, and bring her down here. On the way down I will blindfold her so that the memory wipe will be safer - Rose said that it is easier to erase smaller chunks of memory that involve fewer senses, so hopefully removing her sight will make the hypnotic suggestion more secure." Stark nodded.

"Thank you, Cole. Gupta, the serum?" Rose handed him a vial of light purple liquid and a syringe. "Good. I suggest you, Cole, return to lessons." Nodding respectfully, Oscar went back into the lift, sending a Morse Code message to Rose and Carrie on the pencil communicators - 'Not too bad today!' - as the lift doors closed.

* * *

It was the beginning of period 3. Mrs King readily let Oscar go to the library on the condition that his partner came too. When Oscar told Katalina that they were going to the library, she gave a small nod, and went to pick up her bag. Oscar felt guilty when he noticed the faint red circles around her eyes and how pale she looked. After so long being a spy, he could tell that she had had very little sleep and was very upset about something. It could only be that she had discovered the theft of her notebook. Well, they were going to replace it in the front pocket of her bag while she was hypnotised. He led the way out of the classroom. When he turned to go to the lift, Katalina's quiet voice made him turn around. "Oscar, that's not the way to the library." A very, very faint trace of confusion was detectable under her normally emotionless voice.

"I know," he replied, not stopping. "I want to show you something." A second later, he heard her walking slowly after him. When they reached the cupboard, he saw a spark of interest in her eyes, although her expression remained the same. He knew that she had noticed him coming out of the lift once or twice from her notebook. Watching her expression carefully, he slid the light switch back and pressed his thumb to the scanner. Shock crossed her face - the first open expression he had seen on her. The door opened and he took hold of her arm and pulled her in, shutting the door with his free hand.

"Oscar, what's going on?" she asked, a note of panic in her voice.

"Don't be scared," he said, pulling the lever. As the siren started, he saw her jump and the panic became evident on her pale face.

"Oscar, what's going on?" she repeated, her voice higher and more scared. But at that moment, the lift started the descent. Oscar felt, rather than saw, Katalina jump closer to him, although she did not grab his arm like Carrie had done on her first descent. Feeling in his pocket for the blindfold, he gently put a hand on her shoulder and turned her away from him, slipping it over her white-blond hair. She was obviously crying out as her hand shot up to her face, but he could not hear it over the rush of air. Taking her hand, he tried to communicate to her that everything was going to be alright.

The lift doors opened and Oscar led Katalina out into HQ. She was silent again, but her free hand was trying to undo the blindfold. Carrie ran over to Oscar's side, taking Katalina's free hand. "Who's that?" Katalina gasped, whipping her head around towards Carrie. Oscar shook his head slightly at Carrie. Katalina didn't need to know all their names.

"An agent," Carrie settled for. "Don't worry, Katalina, nothing bad is going to happen."

"Carrie?" Katalina asked. "You're an agent?" Surprised that Katalina could recognise her voice so easily, Carrie looked at Oscar, who shrugged.

"Yes," Carrie said. "Shh. Just relax. I promise nothing bad is going to happen." Oscar could see what Katalina had meant about Carrie treating her like she was a her little sister, but it seemed to reassure Katalina slightly. At any rate, she stopped trying to free her hands to remove the blindfold.

"Carrie, what's going on?" she asked quietly, evidently fighting to regain her normal composure.

"Just come with us, Kitty," Carrie said. Oscar and Carrie began to lead her over to one of the side rooms, where Stark, Rose and Frank were waiting. The room was mainly bare, the only furniture being a table and two chairs. One wall was a mirror-window, meaning that while the occupants couldn't see out, people in HQ could see in. Katalina seemed to stiffen even more when they entered, her hand tightening in Oscars'.

"Who's there?" she asked. Raising one eyebrow, Frank motioned for Stark, Oscar and Carrie to leave. When her hands were released, they snapped to her sides, before she tried to undo her blindfold. Rose guided her to one of the chairs, before saying soothingly, "Let me do that," laying the syringe containing the serum on the table and helping Katalina remove the blindfold. As soon as it was off, Katalina looked around the room in a panicked way, before her gaze came to rest on Frank, who was sitting in the chair across the table from her. "Mr London?" she asked slowly, and outside the room Oscar's eyebrows shot up at how easily she had seen through Frank's disguise. But Frank took it in his stride.

"Yes, Katalina," he said. "I need you to do something for me."

"What is this place? Where are Oscar and Carrie? Does..." her voice trailed off slightly, but she took another breath and continued, "Does Vicky know I'm here too?" It was a strange question to ask, but then Oscar remembered that Carrie was always with Vicky - perhaps that was why Katalina asked.

"No, Vicky doesn't." Frank said ."And I will answer the other questions, but first of all, will you please concentrate on the tip of my pencil." Katalina did so, and after a few seconds her posture relaxed, her head fell to one side and her eyes flickered shut. "Good. You are in a very deep trance," Frank said in a soothing voice. Then he motioned to Rose, who quickly wiped a point on Katalina's neck with an antiseptic wipe and injected her with the serum. Once this was done, Stark, Carrie and Oscar all re-entered the room. Oscar thought that Katalina looked so out of place in the MI High Headquarters. Her two tight plaits were lying each side of her head, her hands were rested in her lap and she looked as though she could never pose a threat to anyone. She looked about twelve.

"Can you hear me?" Stark said in a harsh voice, and Katalina answered in a dazed, distant voice

"Yes."

"Do you know where you are?" Stark continued in the same harsh voice.

"Under St Hopes," Katalina said. Frank whispered something that Oscar couldn't hear to Stark and when Stark nodded, he sat down opposite Katalina.

"Katalina, you will answer every question with all the detail that you know. You will not wake up until I tell you to. Do you understand me?" Frank's tone was noticeably gentler and kinder than Starks'.

"Yes," came the answer.

"Shall I ask the questions?" Frank directed to Stark, who nodded and ordered Rose to record the conversation. Once the tape recorder was playing, Frank announced clearly "Truth Serum and Hypnosis Interrogation. Katalina May Symeonides. Potential Threat." He turned back to Katalina. "How long have you known Oscar speaks Greek?" That, after all, was the reason they had realised that she was dangerous. Katalina took a breath.

"For two months and fourteen days." Oscar smiled at the very exact answer.

"What happened?"

"I was walking to school. Vicky had gone ahead with Carrie. After a few minutes, when I was crossing Devenoid Street, I heard Oscar behind me. I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I couldn't help hearing what he was saying. He was talking on the phone to someone called Missy. I recognised the language as Greek because I can also speak it fluently. They were talking about a holiday Oscar had when he travelled to Greece." She fell silent again.

"What do you know about Oscar Cole?" Frank asked.

"I know that Cole is not his real surname. I know that it is Dixon-Halliday. I know that his father is alive although Oscar thought that he was dead. I know that he doesn't like his mother. I know that he speaks Greek, as well as Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Macedonian, French, German and Arabic. I think that he speaks more. I know that he is very good friends with Carrie and Rose but tries to hide it. I know that he is good at martial arts. I know that Avril has a crush on him but he finds this very annoying. I know that he is hiding a lot of things. I know that he doesn't like discussing his family. I know that he often talks about skulls to Carrie and Rose. I know that he finds art a waste of time as he will never use it after school. I know..."

Frank cut off this long recitation of facts. "That's enough." Katalina fell silent again, as if a switch had been flicked. "This is serious." Stark was visibly fuming.

"How can she know all of this! It is disgraceful!" Oscar was also very disturbed by the amount Katalina knew about him. She was obviously even more perceptive than he had given her credit for. "London, a word, _alone,_" Stark stressed, and Frank nodded.

"Of course, Chief Agent Stark. Oscar, Carrie, Rose, keep going with this, please." The two adults left.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11!  
**I don't own MI High.**

* * *

The three agents looked at each other, and then at the small, pale figure in the chair in front of them. Katalina's tight plaits were hanging either side of her face, her skin, which looked very pale even in normal light, looked white and almost translucent. Her hands were lying loose in her lap, her head was dropped forwards and her eyelids were shut over her light blue eyes. If it wasn't for the red uniform, it would have been very easy to compare her to a ghost. Certainly, she didn't look old enough to be in Year 11. She could pass for 10 if she put a party dress on, Oscar thought. Rose was the first to break the silence.

"How did she know all about you, Oscar?" He shrugged.

"We all read the notebook. I suppose she just picks things up, from her endless watching and listening."

"Ugh, it was so weird," Carrie shuddered. "She seemed to know all your biggest secrets."

"She probably knows more of yours, Carrie," Rose said, "seeing as you spend so much time at her house." Starting slightly, Carrie said

"I suppose you're right. Katalina, what do you know about me?"

"I know that you are Carrie Rachel Stewart. I know that you are best friends with Vicky. I know that you are a very good gymnast. I know that you also excel at martial arts, but don't want people to know that. I know that you are very good friends with Oscar and Rose but try to hide it. I know that your mother is a spy, but I don't think it is for the Government. I know that you..."

"My God, she knows everything!" Carrie interrupted. "Frank was right, this is a serious security threat." At that moment Frank and Stark re-entered the room. "Frank, she knows everything!" Carrie burst out. "Well, not absolutely everything. She doesn't actually know that we're MI9 agents, but she's pretty close! She knows my mum is a spy!" Frank nodded grimly.

"I was afraid of that. But how do we neutralise this security threat? We can't deal with it like...we normally would."

"We most certainly can't!" Rose exclaimed. "Normally we would lock her up in an MI9 prison!" Frank looked awkward.

"Well, exactly. But after Mrs King, we can't rely on mind-wipes any more." OScaar thought.

"How about this for a solely temporary solution. Katalina, do you intend to use this information?"

"No," came the response.

"Do you intend to tell anyone this information?"

"No,"

"Do you intend to act on this information in any way at all?"

"No,"

"But why not?" Stark broke in. "Why?"

"Because everyone has secrets. I have secrets that I wouldn't want others to know. Just because I know some of other peoples', why should I use them?" Stark nodded quickly.

"That will, I suppose, have to do until I can come up with a more permanent solution. Agents, I expect you to be keeping a very close eye on Miss Symeonides from now on. I will contact you, London, when I have solved this problem." With that Stark strode out of the room. Seconds later they heard the lift doors hiss shut. Frank took the chair opposite Katalina.

"Katalina. You will forget that all of this happened. You will forget that Oscar brought you down here. You will forget everything that happened down here. You will instead remember that Oscar took you to the library where you looked for books that would help with your project. Do you understand me?" Katalina nodded and gave a mumbled assent. "Now, Oscar is going to take you back up to the classroom. As soon as you leave the cupboard, you will forget everything." Again Katalina nodded. "Three, Two, One, Wake!" The dazed look left Katalina's face and she blinked several times, before looking around at the agents.

"What was that about?" she asked Frank. Frank didn't answer, instead nodding at Oscar.

"Let's get back to class, Katalina," he said. "Mrs King will get very angry if we're too long." Katalina seemed too confused to protest, allowing Oscar to take her hand and lead her out of the room and into the lift. She stayed that way until they left the lift, when she shook her head twice as though she was trying to get water out of her ears, before slipping back into her silent demeanour. Oscar grinned at the slightly comic effect as he led the way back to the classroom.

"Ah, Oscar, Katalina. Did you find anything interesting?" Katalina shook her head slightly. "Well, back to your seats then."


End file.
